OAKLAND — By the end, the thing Ray Fosse worried about most was how to greet his old friend. A handshake was out of the question. The ravages of ALS had left Catfish Hunter without the use of his arms.
But upon arriving in the tiny outpost of Hertford, North Carolina, in 1999, the solution was obvious. When Fosse spotted Catfish standing alongside his brothers at the family farm, he wrapped him in a huge hug. It was not unlike the embrace the catcher would give Hunter after another shutout at the Oakland Coliseum.
“Even when you’re not playing,” Fosse explained recently, “you’re still a team.